Calif. Lawmakers Ask Feds To Stop Alt-Right Rally In SF

Three California lawmakers are asking the federal government to prevent an alt-right group from rallying in San Francisco later this month, after the violence in Charlottesville on Friday.

The three state lawmakers from San Francisco have written to the National Park Service, asking it to revoke a permit it issued for a rally by the group Patriot Prayer.

"There has been provocation and violence at some of their past events," says State Senator Scott Wiener, via Skype. "Given what happened in Charlottesville, our concern is heightened. This rally is not happening in a vacuum. It’s happening during a very sensitive time."

Assemblymen Phil Ting and David Chiu were the other two lawmakers who wrote to the National Park Service. The agency did not respond to a request for comment.

Patriot Prayer isn’t explicitly white supremacist—in fact, organizer Joey Gibson denounced those groups and the violence in Charlottesville at a rally in Seattle on Sunday.

But white supremacists and neo-Nazis have tagged along to Patriot Prayer rallies, and the Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled its members provocateurs, who goad far-left and anarchist groups to attack them.

As the State Government Reporter, Ben covers California politics, policy and the interaction between the two. He previously reported on local and state politics, business, energy, and environment for WFAE in Charlotte, North Carolina. Read Full Bio